Signal attachment for locomotives



y 1929. J. A. TAYLOR 1,712,058

-S-IGNAL ATTACHMENT FOR LOCOMOTIVES Filed Aug. 12, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l 3mm N: JzmesA.TayZ 0r I I I:

May 7, 1929. J. A. TAYLOR SIGNAL ATTACHMENT FOR LOCOMOTIVES Filed Aug. 12, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet Patented May 7, 1929.

* UNITED STATES.

JAMES A. TAYLOR, orjnmivr nenam, ALABAMA.

sionnnnrraonnnn'r non 'Loco oTIvEs.

Application filed. August 12, 1827. Serial No. 212,565.

This invention relates to a single attachment for locomotives and is designedn'iore particularly as an improvement upon the structure disclosed. in Patent No. 1,558,945 issued to me on October 27, 1925.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide improved mechanism for controlling the flow of steam to thewhistle of the locomotive, the mechanism being greatly simplified and cheapened in construction and permitting the whistle to be' operated at any distance desired from the engineer cab. p

Another object is to provide improved means under the control. of trips located against the railway track, whereby a predetermined signal will be sounded by the whistle as the locomotive passes the trips.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which w1ll appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction, hereinafter described and claimed, it beingumlerstood that changes in the precise embodiment ofthe invention herein disclosed may be madewithin the scope of whatis claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention, g

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a locomotiveequipped with the signal constituting the present nvention;

Figure 2 is a plan View 0t portions of the track having tripping elements adjacent thereto for actuating the signal mechanism.

Figure 3 is a view partly in sidcel'evation an d partly in section of the signal mechanism. Figure A is asection on line 4+4, Figure 3. Referring to the figures by characters of reierenc A designates a locomotive provided with the usual steam whistle B the valve of which has a stem C on which is secured a pieton D. This piston is mounted to work within a small cylinder E and aspring F which bears against the piston serves to hold the valve of the whistle normally closed. A pres:

sure supply pipe 1 opens into one 'end' of the cylinder E and has a branch p1pe2 w th branches which open at 2 into a series of cylinders 3. mounted on a casing A. The number of these cylinders is equal to the number of dii'lerent signals tobe sounded automatically by the whistle. A piston Sis mounted in each,

cylinder and has a stem 6 projecting into a space 7 surrounded by the casing 4. A shaft '8 is journaled in'the casing and extends through this space and is secured, at one end. to a worm gear 9 adapted to receive motion from a worm 10-secured to the shaft ll of a motor 12. i A ratchet wheel 13. is mounted for rotation [with the shaft 8 and a disk 1A is loosely mounted onthe shaft, thisdisk being arranged against one side of the ratchet wheel orveryclose to it. A pawlIS is pivotally mounted on the disk as shown at 16 and has a head 17 at one end adapted to engage anyone of the teeth of the adjacent ratchet wheel 13.

A spring 18 attached to the disk and bearing against the pawl serves to thrust the pawl toward the ratchetwheel. Normally, however,

the head 17 ofthe pawlis held outof engage ment with the ratchet wheel by the piston rod (i extending froinone of the cylinders, there,

being a projecting nose 19 on one end of the pawl which, when in engagement,with the piston rod 6 serves to hold'the' pawl against movement into engagement with the ratchet wheel. i I f One of the disks l l with aratchet wheel and pawl is provided {or each signal to be sounded, there being a pin 20 slidably mounted in the casing above each disk so as normally to bear upon the periphery of the disk. Each disk has peripheral. project-ions 21 so dis posed relative to each, other and so propertioned that, when the disk is rotated in one direction, thesepi"ojections will successively shit and release the pin 20 bearing upon the disk, thetime intervals between movements of the pinbeing dependent upon the relative positions of the projections and their sizes.

All 01: the pins 20 are disposed where they can.

engage one arinot a lever 22 fulcrumed on the casing 41, the other arm of this lever beingat tac'hod to the stem 23 off a valve This valvcis arranged within the pipe 1 and is normally 1n engagen'ientwith its seat so as to cuti admit fluid under pressure to the cylinder E,

thereby causing the whistle valve to open and allow fluid under pressure to flow to the whistle by way of a pipe 25.

i A ve'nt pipe 26 is provided for each of the openings 2- in the cylinders 3 and located at the lower end of each of these vent pipes is a valve 27 connected to a lever 28. Valves 27 with levers 28 are arranged side by side so as to be disposed at differentdistances from the sides of the locomotive. Allof the valves 27 are normally closed. The track along which the locomotive is adapted to travel has been indicated at G and wherever itis desired to sound a signal whistle a tripping block 29 is secured close to one of the rails. Some of the blocks are nearer the rails than others,

due two long blasts of the whistle and two short blasts. A disk for this purpose has been illustrated in Figure Another disk might be designed for producing one long blast. In the structure illustrated theshaft 11 is driven continuously and shaft 8 with the ratchet wheels thereon is also rotated continuously. lVhen one of the levers 28 comes against a tripping block 30 in the path thereof it opens the valve 27 so as to release pressure from the cylinder 3 with which the actuated lever 28 is associated. As soon as pressure is released from this cylinder the piston 5, whichnormally holds a spring 31 under compression, will be released from the position shown in Figure 3, thereby withdrawing the rod 6 from engagement with the nose 19. Simultaneously with this action spring- 18 will throw the pawl 15 into engagement with the adjacent ratchet wheel 13, thereby coupling the selecteddisk 14 to the rotating shaft 8. Thus as this shaft rotates the projection 21 will successively shift the pin 20 and release it, thereby successively actuating lever 22 and valve 24 and successively operating the valve of the whistle Bso that the desired signal will be sounded. Before the disk 14 completes one rotation the lever 28 will have passed out of engagement with the tripping block 30 and the valve 27 will have been closed. Consequently pressure will be restored in the cylinder 3 and piston 5 returns to its normal position with spring 81 under compression and stem 6 projected into the space 7. Thus as the disk 14 completes one rotation the nose 19 will come against the end portion of the piston rod 6 which, acting trip, will swing the head 17 of the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet wheel 13. This will uncouple disk 14 from shaft Sand said shaft can continue to rotate without producing any further signal blast by the whistle. Although the structure illustrated discloses a motor for driving the shaft 8 continuously, it is to be understood that, if desired, operating mechanism such as shown in my patent before mentioned can be provided for rotating this shaft.

In order that the whistle may be sounded at any time desired and independently of the automatic mechanism, suitable means located in the cab can be employed for depressing valve 24. This means can be in the form of a spring supported foot lever or hand lever 32 having a plunger 33 extending down wardly therefroi'n and bearing on lever 22. ()bviously when lever 32 is depressed either by using the foot or by pulling thereupon with the hand, according to the location of the lever, the lever 22 will be moved downwardly and valve 24 unseated. Thus it will be seen that any desired signal can be given at any time desired.

WV hat is claimed is:

1. The combination. with a. signal device and a pressure controlling valve therefor, of pressure operated means for opening said valve, a cut off valve for controlling the flow of pressure to said means, a plurality of disks mounted for independent rotation, separate means actuated thereby for operating the cut off valve, and trip controlled means for imparting a limited rotation to a predetermined disk.

2. The combination with a signal device having a pressure controlling valve, of pressure operating means for opening thevalve, a check valve for controlling the flow of pressure tosaid means, a plurality of disks mounted for independent rotation, separate means actuating thereby for shifting the check valve, disk actuating mechanism, and separate trip controlled means for coupling said mechanism to the respective disks.

3. The combination with a signal device having a pressure controlling valve and pressure operated means for actuating said valve, of a cut ofl valve for controlling the flow of pressure to said means, a shaft, means for rotating the shaft, a disk loosely mounted on the shaft, means for actuation by the disk for shifting the cut off valve from normal position, means for coupling the disk to the shaft, pressure operated meansfor holding said coupling means in inactive position to permit rotation of the shaft independently of the disk, and trip controlledmeans for releasing said pressure controlled means to couple the shaft to the disk.

4. The combination with a signal device having a pressure controlling valve, and pressure operated means for opening the valve, of a cut off valve for normally. holding pressure fromsaid means, a shaft, meansfor rotating the shaft, a disk loosely mounted on the shaft, means for actuation by the disk for shifting the cut off valve from normal position, means for coupling the disk to the shaft, pressure controlled means for holding the coupling means normally inactive, and trip controlled means for momentarily releasing pressure from said pressure operated means thereby to momentarily release the coupling means to active position to opera tively connect the disk and shaft.

5. The combination with a signaldevice having a pressure controlling valve and pressure operated means for opening the valve, of a cut off valve for holding pressure from said means, a shaft, means for continuously rotating the shaft, a plurality of disks supported by but loose upon the shaft, separate means operated by the respective disks when rotated for unseating the cut off valve, means combined With each disk and the shaft for coupling said disk to the shaft, pressure trip controlled means for releasing pressure from the respective pressure operated means,

thereby torelease apredetermined coupling means to operatively connect each dish to the shaft during a limited rotation of the shaft. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afixed' my signa- JAMES A. TAYLOR,

ture. 

